Cover Your Receptors

Hasbro seems to have a bit of an '86 vibe going on right now with it's classics releases. We've had Rodimus and Cyclonus, Blurr, Wreck-gar, Scourge, Kup and of course Perceptor. This is starting to create a problem for my classics shelf; do I keep them all together or separate them? Having Rodimus next to prime isn't so bad, but having Galvatron next to Megatron is likley to start making my head hurt (I'm having a similar issue with my Robot Heroes).

Perceptor fits somewhere in between the two groups, being one of the lucky few to make the transition from season two to three. This new figure is very successful in capturing the cartoon appearance, especially considering the vastly different alt-modes. The body shape is largely right and the details are spot-on, with lovely chrome parts. I'm glad Hasbro went the extra mile here, I don't like too much chrome (looking at you Henkei line) but it finishes the G1 look nicely. Like Bumblebee, there is no hand weapon, but he does have an impressive shoulder mounted one. Whilst there is no official microscope mode, that hasn't stopped enterprising fans from coming up with their own.

Not that there's anything wrong with the official vehicle mode. Perceptor turns into a half-track exploration vehicle with a bulky roof light array which can be unfolded into his weapon. The treads are seemingly a reference the the G1 toy's third mode, a tank. The only real issue with the vehicle mode is the mismatching windows, they are not even close to being the same colour. Despite this, it is a cute but rugged looking vehicle, with a scientific look about it, which is apropriate. Much of the vehicle mode is hidden in robot mode, so the designer had plenty of scope (pun not intended) to make this vehicle mode shine. Hasbro have said they plan to make Reflector out of this mould, and if they do, I'll be tempted to army build, this is a good enough figure that I wouldn't feel like too much of a mug doing so.